Way to Go, Genius!

What should your business do when your marketing plan isn’t working? Do what Apple did with their recent “Boy Genius” marketing campaign that ran during the Olympics. Punt! Remember this commercial from just last week?

Apple is well known for having their “Genius Bar” in all Apple stores. A place where you could go and speak to one of their experts about how to operate your Apple product. So Apple decided that they would take a “genius” and make him mobile. He shows up like a superhero whenever someone is having a computer issue. All well and good, except for one thing: no one likes being called an idiot, especially Mac users who already consider themselves superior to the rest of the computing world!

The whole idea behind the Mac and its ecosystem is that it’s for everyone. It’s easy to use. It’s empowering. These TV spots made it seem as if computing was difficult and people needed a genius to help them out. It probably would have made more sense for Best Buy to run a commercial like this for their Geek Squad who specifically caters to an audience that doesn’t know the difference between a wireless router and cable modem!

So, how did Apple figure out that their Boy Genius ads weren’t working? Simple. You told them! A few prominent blogs trashed them, and YouTube commentators weighed in with heavy “dislike” to “like” ratio. A rarity for YouTube, the ad called “Basically” has more dislikes than likes!

Apple has replaced their Boy Genius ads with a new campaign for a product that is universally admired and respected. The iPad.

Well done Apple, for quickly recognize something that isn’t working and learning from it.